Boiling Hops

[indorat]

I'm using hops in my next kit brew.

Would it be acceptable to boil my hops in 4-5litres of water for about 15min's, then use that boiled hops water to mix with my can of pale ale and my 50/50 malt dextrose mix. Then add my cold water and pitch the yeast.

Sorry for the lack of detail. I'm new to brewing and am writing this at work thus not knowing any of the brands of equipment.

 

[dougsbrew]

yeah mate, that would work fine, just make sure you dont add too many hops boiling at 15 minutes as this will bitter up your brew.

 

[jonocarroll]

I'm using hops in my next kit brew.

Would it be acceptable to boil my hops in 4-5litres of water for about 15min's, then use that boiled hops water to mix with my can of pale ale and my 50/50 malt dextrose mix. Then add my cold water and pitch the yeast.

G'Day - good to hear you're stepping up. Adding hops is a great way to make a beer more tasty.

Boiling for 15 minutes will give you some extra hop flavour, which should go great depending on how much, and which hops you use (careful with any that have a high 'alpha acid percentage' (>8%) - these may be overpowering depending on quantity).

Your best bet is to add some of the malt/dextrose mix (about 100g/L) into the water before you boil the hops. A 1L boil should be fine. The relevant oils are extracted better when there's some malt present. Remember to add the hop-tea to the cold water as soon as possible, otherwise it counts as boiling them for a bit longer.

Good luck. :beer:

[Edit; lagered for clarification]

 

[Bizier]

I agree wholehearteldly with QB above regarding the use of high alpha acid % hops. It is also a good idea to eventually get an accurate digital scales unit (cheap off ebay or whatever) for your hop measuring.

You will never look back mate.

 

[indorat]

Awesome advise guys!

I didnt even think about the tea affect with the hops, I'll make sure my wort is good to go when i add the litre of hot hops/malt mix. I'm guessing that should work?!

And i think I'll check out kmart tonight for some cheap digital scales.

 

[Bizier]

Just so you know, you really want scales that do 0.01 of a gram. Like these. For the record I got something looking identical to this, which was supposed to weight up to 300g, and it ended up only going to 100, which is a bit of a pain sometimes.

ED: You still need a set of kitchen scales or similar to weigh out malt, which is heavier and less critical.

 

[jonocarroll]

Scales are very important. I got very close to the exact same as above from DealExtreme (free delivery)

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/precision-dig...esolution-15004

and mine do go to 300g, Love 'em. I'm likely going to get a second one for the kitchen - sick of having to go out to the brewery every time I weigh out something.